Silver Maple
by abh037
Summary: A son of Hephaestus has a crumby night end ends up talking to a tree. But who says that's a bad thing?
1. Chapter 1

The pounding of hammers echoing through a musty forge is not generally the type of atmosphere one prefers to wake up to. The Hephaestus cabin in its entirety, as a matter of fact, didn't exactly scream hospitality. The few who called it home, however, probably couldn't do without it.

Needless to say, then, no one was very surprised when they woke to Nathan Holmes, just recently turned fifteen, slumped over on his desk, knife in hand, drool on face, and apparently more content than anyone in his position deserved to be.

"Come on, kiddo, rise and shine. Breakfast is in twenty minutes and I'll be damned as a good big sis if I don't ship your ass to the showers beforehand!" Droned Nyssa as she bumped his chair with her hip. Nate barely got a "'Morni-ooaaaahh!" in before his chair leaned an inch too far, sending his knife, his slobber-covered face, and his dignity sliding ceremoniously across the floor.

With a wince, Nyssa halted her retreat. "Whoops…" she paused. Offering an arm, which Nate took, she helped him up and brushed him down in an ironically motherly sort of way. "That… one's on me, lil' bro, my bad."

Nate managed a tired smirk. "Yeah, okay, sure. Whatever you say Mrs. 'good big sis'," he replied sardonically. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he gathered his composure and mulled himself up with his fallen stool the entire cabin was already awake, either hammering away at forges, tinkering with trinkets, or sketching out their next masterpiece.

After a moment, he pulled out the fruits of his previous night's labors. The wooden hilt's stain blended beautifully with the metallic celestial bronze, and it had a slight curve to it that added more to aesthetic than anything else. Turning to his sister, he asked, "Watcha think of this one? I've been working on the balance, and I managed not to get burned this time."

Nyssa caressed the dull end with her palm and carefully caressed the hilt and metal with her fingers. "It certainly looks pretty," she mused, "but viability in combat is another story. Ya gotta get it to cool as evenly as possible, or else the balance will be off, or the durability could be a worse than it needs to be. As a decoration tho, it's got some top-notch looks." She nimbly twirled it in her fingers, caught it safely by the dull end of the blade, and held the hilt to him.

"Was afraid you'd say that," Nate muttered as he took back his knife, though looking more irked than downtrodden. "I just get so caught up in the metalworking and heat that viability slips my head every time.

His sister sighed, and looked him in the eye. "That's the thing, kiddo, being in this cabin doesn't mean you gotta make weapons all day. He taught man the art of creation. He's a deity of artistic patronage, not some machine that churns out axes." She held the door open for me, as she had been leading me out of the cabin as we walked and talked. "You've got talent, Nate. Take it and go with it."

Having had the last word in their little chat, she added one more. "Now get your ass in the shower before you poison the whole camp!" She shouted with a grin and a knock on the rear end out the door, which shut in his face seconds later.

Questioning the Apollo cabin's diagnosis of his sister as 'not bipolar', Nate rubbed his bottom and trudged to the lake. Showering would do him nothing now, he needed a bath.

As he continued on his trek, he slid the knife back out of his pocket and began to finger it. He gave it an experimental swing.

Well, he thought to himself, honestly not as bad as I thought it would be.

He flipped it in his hand a few times in sync with his step, continuing to get a feel for his newest work. It was well-balanced, he had made sure of that during his forging it. He just couldn't shake the feeling that his swings were losing power to something. It just didn't feel right to be slicing, for whatever reason.

It was then he saw the tree near the lake that he figured out that the center of gravity was almost exactly in the center of the knife, making ideal for throwing. He held it in a poised position, as if he were about to throw it.

Ah, that's better, he told himself with a grin, much better. A throwing knife. Alrighty, tree, let's see what you're made of. Target acquired… and…

Thunk.

"Yeowch!" came a scream from the direction he threw the knife. Nate's head filled with dread, certain he's maimed an innocent camper. Silence, save from a few whimpers, prompted him to open one eye to see who had hit. It was the least he could do, he had been the one who'd thrown it.

To his surprise, the only one there was a young wood nymph, who looked to be about his age, sitting to the side of the tree, knees to chest, caressing her hand with her thumb in her mouth. Eventually, he caught sight of the dryad's eyes, after which she scrambled back behind her tree, giving him one last indignant look.

"Sorry! I'm really sorry, I had no idea anyone lived here," he told her frantically. "I was just trying out my—no, that's no excuse, I shouldn't have done that. Sorry…"

He trailed off as he caught her eyes once more, peering inquisitively from behind the tree. Seeing the look on my face, she visibly relaxed and walked back around the tree, still clutching her hand. "Well, it's fine I guess. But no more throwing things at my house," she replied with a frown.

"Yes ma'am."

"And don't call me ma'am. I'm barely a sprout."

"Really? You look pretty mature to me."

The wood nymph's eyes narrowed. "I just turned sixteen recently," she said, a flash of pride in her eyes. "I'm one of the fastest growing trees around."

Nathan turned from the lake to examine her home. It was a medium-sized maple tree from what he could tell. Then again, he was definitely no child of Demeter. His curiosity got the better of him. "A maple tree, right?" he asked.

The nymph wiped the chlorophyll bleeding from her hand onto her her airy dress, which looked as if it had been made from the leaves themselves. Jumping up, she grabbed a low branch with one hand. The tree's limb seemed to raise her up, as if it were making a conscious effort to lift her up. As she settled herself into a comfortable lounging position, she let her legs down, and they swung back and forth, seemingly in tandem with the flow of the tree from the breeze Regarding him with a much more friendly expression on her face this time, she finally replied.

"Yep! Silver maple, to be more specific. How'd you guess?"

"I see them all over on the edge of the woods, but not usually anywhere else. I'd recognize those leaves anywhere" Nathan paused to ponder something. "How'd one of you get all the way over here by the lake, then?"

Looking up pensively at her tree, she eventually replied, "I dunno." She hesitated for a second longer and eventually continued, "The view's great and all, but sometimes it can get kinda lonely here."

Nate pursed his lips at that. Most demigods knew all too well what it was like to be lonely at one point or another, be it a life on the run, lost parents, or just not being able to fit in. To say he was sympathetic would be an understatement.

With that in mind, he began to walk closer to her tree. "I hope you don't mind if I uh… climb?" he asked hopefully.

In an impressive feat of acrobatics, she stood on the one foot for a moment and fell forward, turning halfway around as she did so. As she went down, she caught the branch with her legs and swung unceremoniously for a few seconds as gravity steadied her, and raised an eyebrow. "You know, most nymphs would gravely punish those who so much as scratch their tree. You're lucky to even be alive right now."

Nathan's face visibly fell at this. "I told you, I'm so sorry about that, had no idea there was anyone living here—"

"But," she interjected, "I don't get much company, so… why not?" She finished, swimming herself back up. She scooted over and cutely patted the space on the branch beside her with a genuine smile.

Nate smiled back.

No more that fifteen seconds later, however, it had morphed into a grimace as he struggled to pull himself onto the lowest branch on the tree. Attempting for a third time to swing his leg up, he missed even more horribly than the others and lost his grip, falling flat on his back.

Trying to suppress her laughter, the nymph commented, "perhaps you should try getting a running start, you'll get more momentum that way."

Nate looked at her questioningly.

"Alright, plan B," she sighed, jumping down. She proceeded to get on one knee and lock her fingers for him to step on. "C'mon, up you go."

He grudgingly obliged, but still felt it necessary to ask as he was doing so. "Hey, I was wondering… why are you being so friendly towards me? Dryads are usually quiet when people are around, and I did just accidentally stab your tree." He gave a grunt as he pulled himself up. "Most nymphs would have stabbed me with my own knife by now."

She had already swung herself onto the branch beside him before he had finished his sentence. Without making eye contact, she said quietly, "Like I said, I don't get many visitors. And, well… you seem pretty genuine to me."

Nathan watched her as she brushed a strand of dark hair behind her pointed ear, and had to make a conscious effort to turn his gaze back to the view.

And what a view it was. The rising sun's rays scattered across the the late, creating glimmering ripples amongst the green and the red of the strawberry fields nearby. Morning dew sparkled across the grass like Christmas lights.

A few minutes passed before he spoke again. "I realized… I don't think I ever got your name," he told the nymph lounging next to him.

Turning towards him, she sat cross-legged with her hands on her lap, somehow still managing to stay balanced on the limb. "Like I said, I'm a silver maple," she said.

"I remember. But what should I call you?" Nate clarified. With a small chuckle, he continued, "I didn't think you'd appreciate it if I kept calling you 'that nymph' or 'nice dryad girl' in my head like I have been this whole time."

She laughed a laugh that made him forget all about the scene he'd declared unforgettable moments before, and said, "You can call me Silver!"

* * *

 **I've always like the concept of nymphs in Greek mythology, so I just thought I'd make one and explore the concept myself. As for the story, lemme know what you guys think. I wrote it as a one shot, but I've got some ideas up my sleeve. Until next time, amigos!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hot damn, Nate, this thing is crazy," Leo exclaimed, testing the draw weight.

"Heh, isn't it? There are Hephaestus knows how many bows lying around here that never get used, so I'm surprised nobody thought to trick one out."

Nathan's day had improved exponentially after his chat with the dryad near the lake, along with the blissful bath that followed. Children of Hephaestus were basically celebrities at the lava rock climbing wall—they tended to have a pretty high heat tolerance, their dad being the god of fire and all. Since then he'd been in his workshop tinkering with what was beginning to look less like a bow and more like a badass miniaturized ballista. Well, if ballista had laser sights.

Leo's grin only got bigger.

"Twenty drachma says you won't take that to archery class."

"Chiron would have my head for that," Nate replied, lifting his protective eyewear and looking at Leo in disbelief.

Leo's grin disappeared and his eyebrows furrowed into a look of confusion as he began to sniff the air curiously.

"Dude do you smell that?" Leo muttered.

Nate rolled his eyes.

"No, no, forreal." The sniffing continued.

Nyssa snickered from the back.

"It... It kinda smells like... chicken?" Leo paused, and then finished through laughter, "Oh _wait_. That's _you_."

Nathan sighed with a small smile on his face as Leo's cowlick grew its own candle as he was snickering.

Nyssa came up behind him, licked her fingers, and extinguished it without thinking twice as she ushered the rest of the cabin out. "Come on ladies and girls, off to lunch. We've got cabin inspections afterwards and y'all can bet your asses we're getting a head start on cleaning."

"Tch," Leo replied indignantly, "Still don't get why I can't keep my stuff in here out where I can see it."

"Mh hm," Nate hummed in agreement as they walked out the door. "I'll meet you guys there, I've gotta go pick something up."

"Don't take too long," Nyssa called out as she walked off.

Nathan hadn't realized his dagger was still stuck in the tree by the lake until he tried to adjust it later on, though he figured Silver wasn't the type to mind for him to make an extra visit to come pick it up. His weapon had been the last thing on his mind by the end of his little escapade back then.

The blistering sun overhead became significantly more noticeable as he trudged slowly to the tree by the lake. There was little to no wind to make up to it, making the thought of the shade at Silver's tree more enticing than ever. _It really is a nice tree_ , he thought regretfully, _shame on me for going and stabbing it with a knife._

He spotted the leaves from behind the hill, and slowly made his way up to see that the lake's blinding sparkles from earlier in the morning had cooled to a calm reflection of the surrounding scenery. It seemed the place became more and more picturesque each time he saw it.

He approached the tree cautiously so as not to invoke the wrath of any more disgruntled nymphs, but his paranoia quickly dissipated when he realized his it wasn't where he left it. There was a light mark in the tree where it had struck, but the dagger was nowhere to be found.

"Silver, you here?" He called out quietly, peering around the tree. He circled it slowly, looking it up and down. Hm, he thought to himself, guess she's not here. As he continued to search, both for his dagger and for Silver, he caught sight of something.

Propped up near the roots was a long item wrapped in leaves and tied with twine that seemed to have been made from small roots. It seemed to have been crafted with care, and wrapped around the entire length of the timely very snugly and protectively. The tip of the item gleamed as Nathan walked closer, and a smile grew on his face as it dawned on him.

Picking up the meticulously packaged dagger, he sheathed it by his side and carefully folded up the packaging and twine for safekeeping. He had never considered himself particularly sentimental, but he supposed it wasn't every day a nymph went out of his or her way to take care of items of negligent mortals. He made a mental not to thank Silver profusely the next time he saw her, for going so far out of her way for such a kind deed, especially for a nymph.

Jogging back to the pavilion took no more than a minute or two, but left him panting nonetheless. Children of Hephaestus generally had strong arms and could deal pretty powerful blows with handheld weapons in combat, but it definitely didn't translate to stamina, especially when running. Being hungry didn't exactly help either.

Wafts of air mixed with the enticing scents of lunch coaxed him quickly into the pavilion and towards his table. Meatloaf, Nate guessed as he sniffed the air curiously, definitely meatloaf.

"Look what the hellhound dragged in," Leo called to him with a grin, "took you long enough!"

"I was gone for like, five minutes."

"Well, that's five minutes less meatloaf for you, then."

 _Knew it._

Nathan sat down and essentially melted into a hot puddle on his chair. High heat tolerance came with the price of sweating to Olympus and back to keep cool. He wiped his forehead with is sleeve and placed his hands on the table, looking around at his cabin mates. Nyssa serving well as a vacuum and virtual black hold reserved solely for food. Jake Mason was digging in as well, but with more… moderation. Leo never really ate much, which was admittedly strange at this table, but Nate supposed he didn't exactly have the biggest of bodies to feed.

His rumbling stomach brought his attention to his own hunger. He placed his hand over it and mumbled hangrily to himself. My fault for being late, he told himself, though seeing as his cabin had gone to lunch early, his being late technically meant he was right on time. He nudged Leo after another few minutes.

"Hey, do you think they forgot about me?"

But Leo never got the chance to respond as the voice behind him beat the pyrokinetic to the punch.

"Calm down there, mister hungry man, I've got it right here. Sorry for the wait." Wait. He knew that voice. It was still too fresh in his brain from earlier that day to forget.

"Wait. Silver?" Nate managed to squeak out. "What are you… Is that an apron?"

"Heh, yup! Pretty snazzy isn't it?" She struck a pose.

"Yeah…" he trailed off, nodding stupidly, "…Wait what are you doing here?"

Nyssa, having broken the intimate relationship she had been sharing with her meatloaf only moments before, interjected. "Hey Nate, brother ol' pal. You wouldn't happen to wanna introduce us to your friend here, would ya?" She requested with a sinister smile.

"Well, yeah, I thought I sort of already did. She's the one who I…" he paused, "uh… who I basically stabbed."

"Don't worry," Silver interjected, showing an uninjured hand, "I got better."

"Great going man," Leo whispered to me sarcastically, "I find out you're finally talking to girls, and it turns out you skewered her.

Nate ignored him, having known the scenario would sound bad for him no matter how he phrased it, and turned to properly address the dryad. She had a cute, black apron that contrasted with her greenish skin. This was complimented by her dark, brown hair, which had been pulled up into a casual ponytail, and left nothing but a few long bangs that she had tucked behind her ear.

She stood at what looked to be around 5'10", about the same height as him. She was definitely one of the taller girls he'd met. _Then again_ , he told himself, _she is a tree._

"Well, it was nice to meetcha, Silver," Nyssa said with a friendly smile.

"Pleasure meeting you guys, too," the nymph replied, smiling right back.

She looked around and continued, "I should probably be going, they don't normally like us to disturb the campers during lunchtime. Not very often you guys can catch a break, so we figure we should let you guys relax."

This made a lot of sense to Nate. He'd always seen nymphs carrying food and bussing tables, big his meals always seemed to appear in front of him without him even noticing that anyone had come by.

After goodbyes and other pleasantries were finished being exchanged, Silver bounced off and continued with her waiting tables.

 _So_... a nymph, huh?" Leo said smugly after she had left, and continued on after Nate groaned and banged his head in the wooden table, narrowly missing his untouched meatloaf. "No, no, it's cool, I get it. Ya know, I once convinced a gaggle of nymphs that I was greater than the almighty Narcissus, so if you ever need any advice, I'm your man."

"You know, Leo, if anyone but you had told me that, I don't think I would have believed them," Jake Mason said from the other side of the table.

For the remainder of lunch, the entire table was stuck in a discussion of Leo's supposed 'Valdez charm' and the intricacies of long term nymph-mortal relationships.

Nate's train of thought, however, was elsewhere. Having just gotten over being completely mortified by his cabin mates, he remembered that he never did thank Silver for her kind gesture with his knife. _I guess I'll go visit her in person tomorrow_ , he told himself, regarding the neatly folded natural protective wrapping he'd found his weapon encased in. It did cross his mind that perhaps that would be making too big of a deal of something so small, but he had a feeling she would appreciate company either way, so he pushed that thought to the back of his head.

What his run-ins with Silver were making a more interesting question to him, however, is the extent to which nymphs were different from mortals, or even demigods. Classes at camp had taught him that they were closer to gods than any other part of mythology, and that despite not quite being immortal, many kinds could live for up to thousands of years.

Personal experience told him that what he had heard about nymphs being very sweet and kindhearted creatures—save when their trees were threatened—with beauty that matched the facets of nature they lived to help flourish. _Silver's definitely no exception_ , Nate thought to himself. Despite her less-than-friendly reaction to his knife stuck in her tree, she had never been anything less than kind and accommodating.

Nate continued to dwell on the question as he finished the last of his meatloaf and quietly rose from the table without anyone paying him any mind. Walking to the bonfire, he examined the food he had left. Aside from his entire dessert, all that remained was three pieces of asparagus. He wrinkled his nose. How anyone would willingly consume that godsforsaken vegetable was beyond him. After scraping his dessert into the fire with a blessing to Hephaestus on his lips, the fire burned twice as bright as before dying back down a few seconds later, leaving him with the scent of a homely fireplace. Being the son of the god of fire had its perks here and there.

Nate's mind continued to wander as he put away his dishes and headed back to the cabin. _With any luck_ , he thought, _I'll be able to get in a nap before our cleaning extravaganza this afternoon_. Despite his desire to get back to his cabin for some rest, however, his ADHD got the better of him.

Early on in his education regarding life as a half-blood, he'd learned that mythological creatures were more apparent to his eyes as he became more aware of their presence. Perhaps it was that he'd had more really contact with nymphs in that day than he had in his entire time at camp beforehand, but as he looked around him, he could see them forging the world in real time around him. Small, translucent sylphs, nymphs of the wind, were flying through the trees and giving nature its ebb and flow. Dryads were grooming their trees so as to keep them flourishing during the heat of summer. Naiads jumped energetically and playfully in tandem with the flight of the sylphs, creating the ripples in the lake. The whole sight was an interesting one to see, it a sort of way that it made connections between aspects of the world he'd though independent for so long. It was like finding out what constellations were after looking at the night sky your whole life and seeing nothing but individual stars.

Eventually, Nate made it back to his cabin, and the wave of exhaustion he'd felt earlier struck him once more. ADHD worn off, covered in sweat, and his knees wobbling, he collapsed in his bed and was out like a light.

 **Welp, that's the end of this chapter. I'm really enjoying exploring Nymph lore, and I've got a bunch more of the planned in the next chapter. First though, do you guys think I should stick to a more lighthearted tone, or introduce a threat to raise tension? I'm leaning towards the former, but lemme know what you guys think. See you in the next one!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Up with you, ya lazy bastard."

Nate groaned and covered his eyes to shield himself from the overhead lights that his sister had just turned on. Promptly, he rolled her and covered his head with his pillow. "…Dun wanna," he mumbled into the mattress.

He could practically hear Nyssa roll her eyes as she yanked the sheets off of him. "Come on, we just got back from dinner. Dinner. You missed cleanup and inspection. You're lucky we let you sleep for so long. Chalk it up and an IOU."

Admitting defeat, he sat up in his bed in the back corner of the room and blinked furiously to clear the sleep out of his eyes. He saw his sister nod approvingly before briskly walking off, probably to find Leo hiding in the forges somewhere. Nate craned his neck to see the old clock hanging in the front of the room. It read 21:00, give or take a few minutes. _Man_ , he thought, _why was I so tired. I didn't wake up particularly early or anything. Was probably the rock wall, that session was brutal._

Knowing full well that he wouldn't be getting to sleep anytime soon, he swapped off his singed and sweaty clothes for a fresh set, and set out to the bathroom. Despite his post-sleep drowsiness, he could see with clarity the crows nest of hair on his head in the mirrors. As he set to work on brushing it flat, the memory of Silver at lunch surfaced.

She had seemed a lonely tree when he first met her, which was why he was so surprised to find her working as a waitress in the pavilion. The nymphs did generally handle that sort of stuff, but he never would have thought Silver to be suited to such socially involved job. _Can't say the same about that uniform_ , Nate smiled to himself, whistling internally, _ponytails sure do suit her. She's definitely got the hair for it._

On that note, Nate flattened down the rest of his hair, and freshened himself up enough to be presentable to the outside.

"Going out!" He called to the cabin, and after getting a nod of a head in acknowledgment from Jake, he opened the door with more energy than someone up at this time would normally have.

Or at least he would have, had it not been for the _thunk_ he felt halfway through.

"Owww…" whined a voice near him, several seconds after he had frozen halfway through stepping out the doorframe. Slowly, carefully, and slightly fearfully, he moved forward and peeked around the door. Silver hair and sparkling wings were the first things that caught his eye, and deciding that was impossible, he gave his brain a few more seconds to process the situation.

The sylph sitting on the ground in front of him, rubbing her head in pain, however, would object to the supposed 'impossibility' of the situation, having been the victim of it. "Watch where you swing that thing, would ya?" She muttered through her teeth.

"Oh! Yeah… yeah, sorry…" Nate said with little conviction. He rubbed his eyes and tried once more to focus them on the sylph.

 _Man_ , he thought, _what's it with me and hurting nymphs? …At least, I think she's…_

After an awkward fifteen seconds of staring, Nate finally spoke up. "So, uh… you're a nymph, right? A uh… watchamacall'em… s—s… 's' something. I know it starts with an 's'."

By this point, the nymph had gotten up and stood in front of him with her arms crossed and her foot tapping. But one could tell she was thoroughly amused but Nate's struggling. At least they could it they looked closely, considering she didn't look to be an inch taller than a foot and a quarter.

Nate continued to stammer until she eventually finished for him. "S…ylph?" she suggested.

"Yeah, that's it! Sorry about that.

"No, worries, not your fault," she said pleasantly, contrasting her previous annoyance.

Nate looked around and noticed that the breeze he had noticed earlier was gone, which was curious, since it had been a pretty strong wind. Though he could be dense about particular things, he had a tendency to notice details. It came in handy in the forge, but had even more applications in the real world. "That breeze was you, wasn't it? I didn't mean to interrupt, it seems like you were pretty busy."

"It's good, I make this run every night to keep sneaky demigods inside their cabins," she said playfully. "Speaking of sneaky demigods, what're you out here for? Got a late night date?"

 _Ya know,_ Nate said to himself _, I always said the winds around here were bipolar, but this is definitely not what I had in mind when I said it._

"So Nate…" she started.

 _Wait… I never told her my name._

"You've become a bit of a celebrity in the world about nymphs around here," she continued, walking circled around him as she spoke. "First, you befriend the silver maple by the lake. Who, might I add, is notorious for not talking to anyone but other nymphs. The second is the fact that you can see us at all. The mist usually works for demigods if they are unaware or its presence. Yet here you are."

"Okay, hold up, I'm gonna have to stop ya right there. How do you know so much about me, I thought you were just making a nightly run? And how do you even know what I look like? Also, before you answer those, what's your name? I forgot to ask that first the last time I met a nymph and it almost made things pretty awkward."

The sylph flapped her wings and flew up to his face. "Well… nymphs don't really have names per se, but…" she thought for a moment, "I'm a late night northern breeze, so how about you condense 'north late' to Nola? I like the sound of that."

Nate gave a friendly smile and said, "Nola it is. Nice to meet you. Now what about the rest of my questions?"

Flying freely in loops in the air in front of him, she said, "I'm getting there, don't worry. I knew it was you based off the fact that you could see me at all. You're the only demigod in camp who can, you know."

Nate rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"And as for being famous, well, Silver's a bit of a chatterbox to other nymphs when they get her alone—which is quite often—so we knew about you within minutes of the start of the conversation. Plus, like I said, its not everyday a mortal makes friends with her."

Nate gave another playful smile, "Yeah, well, I'm starting to think she's not the only chatterbox in the community."

Nola promptly flicked him between the eyes before flying in fast circles around his head disorienting him. "Teeheehee, serves you right. Now then…" she stopped in front of him again, "the real reason I'm here is to fetch you for the others."

"The others?" Nathan asked, "Who are the others?"

"Well," Nola replied, flying behind him to push him in the general direction of their destination, "I guess you'll just have to find out!"

* * *

 **Shorter this time, but it was still fun to write. But since it was so short, I should have the next one out sooner, so look forward to that! Lemme know what you gets think! Good story? How's Nate's character? Silver's? Nola's? Anyways, see you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait, but now that I'm fully moved into my dorm, and assuming I'm not swamped with work, I'll try to get some chapters out more regularly now.**

* * *

Despite Nate's initial hesitation, Nola proved to be quite the entertaining conversationalist, and he found myself thoroughly enjoying the walk she was guiding me on. It was that time of the evening where the air was still in the process of ridding itself of the daytime heat, and the cold of night hadn't yet completely set in. The sun, despite being fully set at this point, still provided enough light to see well enough.

"So," Nate began, "if you can't say who you're taking me to see, can you at least say where?"

Nola, still flying a few feet in front of him, looked at him pensively for a moment. "Hmm… have you ever heard of the Grove?"

"Can't say that I have."

She gave a sly smile. "Perfect."

Despite his bewilderment, Nate followed along silently as the sylph in front of him continued to entertain herself, flying ion loops and corkscrews, laughing airily all the way. Every time she flew near him, he felt a gust of wind blow through his hair and flutter his clothes. It was very refreshing, especially to somebody as warm-blooded as him.

Nate squinted to see in the gradually dimming light of the sinking sun to realize that the edge of the forest was cutting off the majority of the rest of the evening light. He turned to Nola inquisitively. "What exactly are we doing in the woods? All I have with me is my knife, which isn't good for much but throwing, apparently. Not really equipped to fight whatever's in there."

She flew in front of him and crossed her arms confidently. "No worries, we'll get you through safely," she said, "This is nymph territory!"

Nate nodded hesitantly, but kept his hand on the small blade in his pocket nonetheless.

They were no more than a few feet into the forest when he saw a small figure hiding being one of the trees. It seemed to blend in with the trunk of the tree, regarding him warily before vanishing. Strangely enough, he didn't feel as much unease as the situation felt like it normally should have called for.

Nola did nothing but smirk knowingly at the sight. "Come up, we don't have much further to go!" She exclaimed before gliding briskly ahead of him, causing Nate to have to break into a jog to keep up.

Sure enough, a glimmer of light that seemed to be coming from and opening up ahead caught his eye. The nearer they drew to it, the brighter and more welcoming it seemed to become. Suddenly, Nola slowed.

Out of the corner of Nate's eye, he spotted a dryad leaning against the trunk of one of the trees between him and the opening. As he swiveled his head to examine the surrounding area, he saw it wasn't just one dryad. It was as if the entire forest has gathered here to greet him. Despite the numbers, however, the mist seemed to be doing an awfully good job of distracting him from their presence, almost as if it was telling him nothing there was to be seen except for the trees.

Gracefully landing on his shoulder with a light breeze, Nola giggled quietly and told him, "It looks like you've made some friends," before ushering him forwards.

They didn't get far, however, before they heard a small voice call out, "Um…!"

Turning to the sound of the voice, Nate was greeted by a small dryad who couldn't have been more than a sapling.

"Excuse me, sir," she said, "are you Mr. Nate, sir?" She postulated adorably.

His heart melting, he crouched down to her level with a smile. "That's me, yep."

She broke out into a grin, and dashed off with mischievous laughter to rejoin the other nymphs hiding in the shadows.

Nola didn't bother holding back the giant grin on her face. "Alright ladies man, no more distractions, come on!" She proceeded to drag him by his collar until they finally reached the clearing.

Now, Nate hd always found the sounds of nature relaxing. Rustling of leaves, the crashing of ocean waves, the nighttime chorus of crickets. This, however, was something else together. The minute he stepped out into the clearing, the near silent murmur of the sounds of the night forest burst through his ears right down to his soul; the equivalent of a chanting Gregorian choir spontaneously bursting into a resounding chorus of Ode to Joy.

No less astounding was the sight that accompanied these sounds. The moonlight seemed to magnify itself as it reflected off of the hot spring in the center. Sylphs glowed softly as they pranced around the top of the spring, leaving fluttering ripples as they skated across the water's surface. Dryads of all sorts dressed in elegant leafy garb lounged peacefully.

"Woah," Nate muttered, taking in the sights.

"Right?" Nola replied enthusiastically, poking his arm with her tiny elbow. "Come on, lets go mingle, everyone already knows who you are!"

No sooner did the words leave her mouth than did a gaggle of nymphs, young and old, surround him and start to chatter curiously.

"Doesn't look like much if you ask me…"

"Oh hush, when's the last time you've ever seen a human in these parts?"

"Does Chiron count?"

"But everyone looks like a pansy when compared to Chiron."

A smaller dryad spoke up, the same one that had greeted Nate earlier. "Well, I think he looks nice!" she said with an adorable smile.

All the while, Nate had been trying to suppress a blush, not being accustomed to such attention, and subconsciously started to inch back into the woods—

"Woah! Hey, watch o—Nathan?!"

—before his back lightly bumped into a figure behind him.

'Wait,' he thought to himself, 'I recognize that voice.' He felt sweat dripping down the back of his neck despite the cool of the night.

Not having yet turned around to address Silver, he raised his head to see the rest of the nymphs had gone dead silent, grins plastered over their faces.

Silver squinted suspiciously at her sisters, and put a hand on her hip. "Any of you wanna explain what's going on here? You all seemed pretty adamant about the whole 'no humans allowed' rule."

When the older nymphs continued to stand before her innocently, the same little dryad came up and spoke for them. "But sister, sister, you've never had a friend before, we wanted to meet him!" She lowered her voice as if she were trying to hide it, ignoring the fact that the demigod in question was standing right in front of her. "I think he's nice," she whispered, giving Silver a double thumbs up.

Nate couldn't help but smile at the girl, but his mood quickly shifted back to uncertainty as he turned to face silver behind me, and asked her, "Hey, so… a Sylph told me I needed to come here. Any idea what's going on? And what is this place?"

Silver turned him back around by the shoulders and begin to lead him around the spectating gaggle of nymphs to the other side of the clearing, and while doing so, replied, "We call it the Grove. I think I know why they brought you here, but there was definitely an ulterior motive… I'll explain later."

Nathan turned toward her and flashed her a quick smile, only to hear snickering from the nymphs they had left behind, and saw two things that he know were definitely not good.

One, was a root of a nearby tree that was definitely a few inches higher than it had been a seconds ago.

Two, was Silver, having tripped on said root, falling ungracefully towards him, arms flailing wildling looking for something to catch onto to stop her fall.

Unfortunately for Nate, the closest thing to her falling form was himself.

Catching her gracefully, he guided her back to her feet. Nate felt a spontaneous bout of playfulness well up in him, perhaps a reaction to the weirdness of the situation, and said to her with a smile plastered on his face, "So… I guess you really fell for me, huh?"

Silver, having steadied herself, froze as her face began to blush green with chlorophyll. "That was terrible," she told him, and as she turned her face away from his, neither her purposeful marching onwards, the cover of the shadows of the surrounding trees, nor her own efforts to bite to back could conceal the small, happy smile gracing her face as she thought to herself, 'well…maybe'.

* * *

 **AWWW! I think she has a little crush! Well... maybe! We shall see. I'm still a gigantic amateur when it comes to writing, so you guys' opinions are always appreciated. See ya in the next one!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright ladies and gents, I think I've got an idea for a bigger plot here, but we'll see how it turns out. This story is more me experimenting with a multi chapter fanfic than a full, planned novel, but I think I might be able to get the hang of writing like this. Enjoy!**

Silver and Nate soon fell into comfortable conversation after the former regained her composure. She went on to tell him about the Grove, the resting place of all the forest nymphs, deemed a sacred place that Nate technically was never supposed to have entered.

"And I wont be turned into a squirrel or anything?"

"Why, do you want to be?" She replied playfully, nudging him with her arm. "No, my sisters and I will make sure of that. It is us who dwell here, and therefore it us is who have the authority to grant or deny permission for entry, so long as no higher power has said otherwise."

Nate's eyebrows furrowed. "Higher power…?" He muttered questioningly.

"Yes, as in… well… I think it's better we cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Yeah, that makes me feel a ton better…"

The moon had fully risen by then, casting scattered light on their forms as they fell into a comfortable silence. Nate observed the pretty nymph in front of him, watching as small flowers and leaves fell from the braid she had tied up and decorated. They shimmered as they fell, but their quantity never decreased. Their faint glow from reflecting the evening luminance gave the nymph herself the air of divinity. Nate's mind held onto that thought.

"Hey Silver…" he started.

"Hm?" She turned her head back towards him questioningly, her eyebrows furrowing in what Nate thought was a pretty adorable manner.

"You said you were about sixteen, no?"

"Yep, but I'm already almost completely matured," she said with enough proud brightness to light up the evening forest.

"I thought nymphs were sort of minor goddesses in a way, and that they resided in their forest so long as it's alive?"

"Well, I guess I should have made it clearer. I'm actually a hamadryad," Silver said after turning to face him, and continued after Nate's head tilted in confusion. "It means I'm bound to my tree. Not physically or anything like that, but more of a, uh, spiritual bond. Not that there are any spirits involved or anything. I supposed I could be considered a nature spirit, but still…" she trailed off.

"So," Nate said, willing to take a shot at explaining it, "instead of being connected to the whole forest, you're just one tree?"

"Yeah, I age as my tree does." She gave a bittersweet smile. "It's kind of both a blessing and a curse. Some of my elders get to live forever, watching over this forest. But I won't have that. I'll be gone just as the mortal friends I make in this life do. Kind of selfish of me, really. I don't have to live missing those I love, but I condemn others to missing me."

Nate was silent, unprepared to contribute such a heavy topic. "Hey, at least that means you only have to put up with me for another seventy-odd years, then you're home free," he rattled off, only subconsciously aware of his tendency to use his own humor as an escape from thinking about the hard stuff.

Silver, however, took it in stride, not seeming to mind at all. Her serious expression quickly turned to one of relief. "You really have a way with words, you know that."

"Heh, just tell that to my—" Nate halted. "Wait a minute… was that sarcasm?"

Her smile didn't budge an inch. "Maybe."

"…I think I might have just gotten burned by a tree…"

"Don't worry, the irony's not lost on me either."

They had long since stopped walking at this point, and stood facing each other, sharing a lighthearted laugh. The line of trees that marked the end of the Grove and the start of the forest stood no less than twenty feet in front of them, up a slight incline.

Nate started to turn to face the open area, imagining what a view it might be, but was stopped by the nymph grabbing his arm.

"Don't look yet, we're almost there," she said, ushering him to the edge of the woods. Quickly scanning the line of trees near the top of the hill, she found one with relatively low branches and climbed it with all the grace and balance she had displayed in the past. Turning back to Nate, she asked him with a smirk on her face, "Think you can handle this one?"

"I think you severely overestimate my athletic capabilities," he muttered, already struggling to pull himself up on the first branch. Eventually, though, he did make it, and took a seat next to Silver. "You know, for a branch, this isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be." He told her, scooching around before settling in next to the nymph.

"This is one of my favorite spots outside of my tree," she said, "and the view's not half bad either."

Silver's braid fell naturally down the the middle of her back, and the moonlight gave her green skin an almost purple glow to the flowers that decorated. Petals glowing with a soft green lie to them still fell slowly down from them, lighting up her figure to an an almost angelic degree. Her tall and lithe form rested comfortably next to him and she swung her legs freely, and a content smile and open, brown eyes made perhaps one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen

Nymphs were always typically known to be beautiful, lust-inducing spirits; the gods just couldn't seem to keep their hands off them. Silver, though, she was something else. Lacking the curvy figures and skimpy clothing nymphs had been typically known for, her modest leafy dress came down to just below her knees, and was held up by straps on either side of her neck that were just barely touched by loose strands of hair that hung down on either side, only adding to her naturally cute air she had about her.

"Yeah," Nate said, "beautiful…"

It was a moment before either of them realized that Nate's gaze was turned not towards the admittedly magnificent view of the grove below him, but directly at the wood nymph with a blush-dusted face sitting right at his side.

* * *

The walk back was much quieter than the one before had been. The awkward air was much harder to penetrate, and despite the silence not necessarily uncomfortable, the single thought of 'what do I say from here' ran rampant through both of their heads the entire time.

As they approached the rest of the nymphs, they came to realize that it wasn't just the air between the two of them that had changed drastically, it was as it the whole forest had some to a slowdown. The nymphs that had been so teasing before now held serious faces, carrying out their duties in caring for the forest with an odd sense of deliberation.

Nate's confusion must have been obvious as he looked around questioningly, waiting for someone to fill him in, only to find that Silver had rejoined the others without any thing other than an 'I'll be back soon' on her lips.

It wasn't long before Nola found him, and fluttered stressfully towards him. "Nate! Nate, we gotta leave, we can't let them see you here!"

This didn't exactly help Nate's confusion. "Let who see me here? Silver told me I was welcome here."

"You are, you are! By the nymphs. We're not talking about nymphs here though!"

Before he could get out a reply, Silver was already back to his side. "Hey Nate, remember what I said earlier about 'crossing that bridge when we come to it'?"

Nate gulped and nodded slowly. "We've… come to 'it', haven't we?"

Her reply came after a moment of silence. "I think it would be more appropriate to say 'it' came to us…"

* * *

 **So, whaddya think? Good? Bad? Cliffhanger-y? Review to let me know, its definitely the best way for me to know how to improve my writing. Anyways, see you guys in the next chapter, whenever that is!**


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